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Rainflower's Story
Related Pages */Gallery/ */Quotes/ */Character Descriptions/ Intro Hi there! This is a fanfiction narrated by popularly hated "ancient" RiverClan queen Rainflower, former mate of Hailstar's deputy Shellheart and mother to Crookedstar and Oakheart. It's a tale of her earlier life which will explain why she turned her nose up at Crookedstar after he broke and twisted his jaw in Crookedstar's Promise. Summary Watch the proud warrior of RiverClan, Rainflower, as she travels from a fearful, bothersome kit to a skilled and successful warrior, assisted by her loving mate, the young dappled warrior Shellheart, her kind and protective aunt Appletiger and the other warriors of StarClan as she struggles against the life threat of her cruel mother Quincetail, all narrated by the star of the story. RiverClan Allegiances (I know Milkpaw (Milkfur, Brambleberry's mentor)'s gender is unknown, but in this fanfic I'm making it a tom, because that's what he seems like to me) LEADER: Spikestar - rare fertile tortoiseshell, brown tabby and white tom with yellow eyes and snaggly teeth (mate to Gorgefeather, father of Rubblewing and Cherrypaw) Apprentice, Echopaw DEPUTY: Emberspray - gray-and-white she-cat with gray flecks like drops of water, strong white paws and dark blue eyes (sister to Applemink, pregnant with Silverfoot's kits, mother to Milkpaw and Hailpaw - seperate litters) MEDICINE CAT: Applemink - dark ginger she-cat with green eyes and a torn ear (sister to Emberspray) Apprentice, Milkpaw WARRIORS: (toms, and she-cats without kits) Tanglewhisker - young, muscular, long-legged brown tabby tom Ripplepelt - light gray tabby she-cat Toadwater - black tom with brown spots on his neck and white legs and paws Ebonytree - black she-cat with pale rims around her green-blue-yellow eyes (mate to Rowanteeth, mother of Toadwater) Apprentice, Cherrypaw Rubblewing - red-brown tabby tom with ragged fur and deep blue eyes Rushfoot - brown she-cat Leafsplash - sleek black-and-white tom with green eyes Troutclaw - gray tabby tom Rowanteeth - pale brown tabby tom with scarred nose and tail and long, gnarly, yellow teeth Willowtail - odd-eyed white tom Birdsong - tabby-and-white she-cat with white belly and ginger-patched muzzle Apprentice, Hailpaw Silverfoot - pale silver-and-white tom with silver paws and green eyes Apprentice, Mudpaw APPRENTICES: (more than six moons old, in training to become warriors) Echopaw - pale gray she-cat, fur tipped with white giving her a cloudy appearance Cherrypaw - brown tabby she-cat Hailpaw - thick-pelted gray tom Milkpaw - gray-and-white tom; apprentice to the medicine cat Mudpaw - long-haired light brown tom; youngest apprentice QUEENS: (she-cats expecting or nursing kits) Seedstalk - pale gray tabby she-cat with yellow eyes; mother of Shellkit (dappled gray tom) Gingerbush - fluffy tortoiseshell she-cat with ginger-scented fur; mother of Dovekit (tortoiseshell she-cat like her mother), Ripplekit (black-and-silver tabby tom), Pikekit (brown tom with protruding canine teeth) and Owlkit (brown-and-white tom) Quincetail - marbled ginger tabby she-cat; mother to Rubblewing's kits Lilackit (purple-tinted gray she-cat), Reedkit (black she-cat with bluish ears and white paws and tail-tip), Aspenkit (light gray-brown tabby tom with broad shoulders) and Rainkit (skinny, pale gray she-cat with blue eyes) ELDERS: (former warriors and queens, now retired) Brackenears - dark brown tabby tom with green eyes and stumpy tail Mossmallow - black-and-white she-cat, blind and deaf Story Hello, and welcome to StarClan's wonderfully peaceful hunting grounds - Brambleberry ordered me to greet you like that. What, you don't know Brambleberry? Long white fur, black spots, berry-pink nose? Doesn't ring a bell? Frog-brain. Yes, we say frog-brain in RiverClan! *mutters* Stupid kittypet. *speaks up* Well, I dragged you into this dream to teach you about my cruel upbringing, so you'd better enjoy the tale! I was born to a beautiful, swirly-striped bright ginger she-cat named Quincetail and a dark gray-brown tabby tom, the Clan leader Spikestar's son Rubblewing in early leaf-bare, along with my three littermates - two she-kits and a tom. The she-kits were a black tabby with white paws and tail-tip and slightly bluish ears named Reedkit. In my eyes she was a weirdo, just like my son Crookedstar - at least he has a good spirit. But back to me: my other sister was a pretty purplish-gray, Lilackit, whilst my brother was a light brown-gray tabby, Aspenkit. I was the runt of the litter - just my luck. Not. I was small and scrawny, bullied from the beginning by my littermates. Even my mother and father didn't like me. Whenever Clanmates visited the nursery and said how cute we were, they always mentioned Reedkit's sparkly fur, or Lilackit's beautifully long and slender legs and tail, or Aspenkit's broad-from-birth striped shoulders. The apprentices at the time, Hailpaw, Mudpaw, Cherrypaw and Echopaw, always asked to play with or cuddle or groom my brothers and sister. They just shoved me aside, treating me like a useless scrap of rotten prey. The first time I exited the nursery at four weeks, I got lost in the clearing and ended up nearly drowning in the shallow kit-training-pool beside the queens' den. I didn't get to meet the elders, apprentices or leader my first time - I was just a source of amusement for a few feasting warriors gathered in the camp; one I remember clearly was a pure white tom with odd eyes - one yellow, one green. I mean, a tiny, skinny, wet kit hobbling along on the muddy earth. What could be funnier? Even my weightless sister Lilackit overpowered me. I was actually scared for my life at some points during my nursery time, when my lazy mother had abandoned us to go for a meal with her mate or just simply dozed off in her nest, and my littermates were playing roughly. Plus, there were the bossy queen Gingerbush's kits Dovekit, Ripplekit and Pikekit to watch out for. Their brother Owlkit was physically weaker and spent most of his time napping with Gingerbush. Seedstalk, another she-cat, had a single son Shellkit, who enjoyed playing but saw how helpless I was and hissed at the other kits if they were too careless. I liked him from the start, though I could relate to Owlkit's situation. All my kithood I watched my siblings playing with our father Rubblewing. When I tried to join in, Aspenkit always growled that I was too small and my thin, wobbly legs might snap if I play-fought with them, so each and every day I ended up clawing together a bunch of reeds and moss at the corner of the nursery, trying to fall asleep, but the squeals from my littermates kept me awake most of the time. Apprentice ceremonies are supposed to be a time for joy and excitement, right? Not for me. I was terrified of becoming an apprentice, if I got to at all. I hardly knew my Clan due to my shyness and weakness, discrimination from regular Clan life. The morning of our six-moon day my littermates were bouncing up and down, waking all the kits and queens up including me. Fear gripped my heart with frosty claws at the realization that it was our apprentice day. Quincetail, who was a very bad mother in case you hadn't noticed, decided to groom us in ready for the ceremony in order of beauty/handsomeness. Lilackit was first of course, and looked like a StarClan cat after the washing session. Then came Aspenkit, with his sleek, dark tabby fur and already firm muscles. After him was unusual-looking Reedkit, who was upset to be second-last, but after her grooming, Aspenkit reassured her by telling her that at least she wasn't as tiny and helpless and as much of a failure as me, Rainkit. Quincetail rolled her eyes at me and batted me towards her, then began to swipe her rough tongue over my thin pelt. She released me sooner than the others, which I was glad of until we got outside (my siblings barged past me and practically tore apart the wide nursery entrance) and I scooted around the corner to go look in a puddle. My gray fur was matted around my shoulders and belly, ruffled and dripping with my mother's spit. Before my first groom I'd thought I would always turn out like this, but I glanced at my littermates. Their pelts weren't knotted and wet and messy like mine - their coats were untangled and smoothed down by Quincetail's tongue because she'd actually bothered to lick them the right way. Also, instead of dripping with stinky saliva, their fur was lightly layered with spit which only conditioned their coats and made them look silky smooth and shiny as Seedstalk's description of the Moonstone. Speaking of Seedstalk, her kit Shellkit had become an apprentice, Shellpaw, about a moon and a half earlier - his mentor was the calm, intelligant warrior Leafsplash. I wish I could've gotten him as a mentor! I remember when Spikestar first gave me my apprentice name, Rainpaw, and the mentor of Rowanteeth. That ugly tabby was the father of the most idiotic, useless warrior in the Clan - Toadwater. Sometimes I still wonder why he ever existed. Anyway, Lilackit, no, Lilac''paw, of course got a beautiful cat to mentor her - Ripplepelt. Aspenpaw was given epic Tanglewhisker (yes, he was a young, fit warrior back then, genius) and Reedpaw's teacher was mean Willowtail. Ever hear how the ThunderClan legend Bluestar's first apprentice duty was moss-gathering, and despite that she became one of the best leaders in Clan history? Well guess what my first apprentice duty was? Pulling ticks off my own mentor. Yep, that's right. Rowanteeth was old and bony at the time I was made into Rainpaw. The only other warrior available for mentorship after Leafsplash, Willowtail, Ripplepelt and Tanglewhisker were taken by Shellpaw, Reedpaw, Lilacpaw and Aspenpaw was Rowanteeth. Besides the deputy, Emberspray - Spikestar didn't want a 'paw to train I guess, and Emberspray was pregnant at the time, and she was probably too cool to be given me as an apprentice anyway. The other option was a strong, handsome, respected warrior named Troutclaw. Okay, back to the story. So yes, while I was running back and forth from strict, irritating medicine cat Applemink's den to the warriors' with mouse bile for Rowanteeth, all my littermates went out to explore the territory - Willowtail, being strangely kind to Reedpaw, went out hunting with my future mate Shellpaw - he was old enough to go out without his own mentor, Leafsplash, who was on patrol at the time. Aspenpaw, Lilacpaw, Cherrypaw and Hailpaw were taken out moss-gathering and border-marking with their teachers. Echopaw, another experienced 'paw was resting in the shelter after yesterday's tiring work of chasing three dogs and a kittypet back to Twolegplace and then fishing for an hour. After being treated for the parasites, I begged Rowanteeth to take me to swimming practice or on a tour of RiverClan territory, but he refused and lay down for a "well-earned" nap, so I went out of the den, washed my paws in the camp stream and ate a trout. That night I recall making my own nest at the edge of the apprentices' den and was almost asleep when my denmates came charging in - Shellpaw, Hailpaw, Mudpaw, Lilacpaw, Aspenpaw, Reedpaw, Echopaw and Cherrypaw. Echopaw had been in a tree-climbing lesson after her energy returned. Echopaw lay down in her nest next to Shellpaw's - jealousy fizzed through me like lightning - whilst Reedpaw and Aspenpaw curled up together like littermates should, and Cherrypaw sat down in her bed and curled up, almost instantly starting to snore. My sister Lilacpaw padded up to me, legs shivering with tiredness. "So, what'd you do today?" she asked." "I sure did, Rainflower." Huh? - turns - Oh hi, Lilacfur. I was just telling this visitor a story." "Carry on." - Lilacfur disappears into the sparkling StarClan trees - That was Lilacpaw - she's Lilacfur now. We're both fading spirits of StarClan, since we died such a long time ago. Back to my tale - so yeah, I muttered that I did nothing really. Lilacpaw ignored my reply and happily squeaked that she had patrolled the borders like a warrior and gathered moss for Gingerbush, the only remaining queen, and the elders with Cherrypaw, Aspenpaw and Hailpaw. I asked why she was so happy about gathering moss, and she exclaimed that Bluestar had that as ''her ''first task as Bluepaw and she became an awesome leader, "meaning" Lilacpaw would too. Also, she truthfully said that slicing at the plants with unsheathed claws increased your skill at fighting and hunting. I mumbled whatever, lost in an endless storm of jealousy, and my silvery-furred sibling walked away to her own premade bed and slumped down in it for the night. The rest of my apprenticehood was the same - jealousy, discrimination, sleepiness and frustration. Except for Shellpaw. ''He ''was nice to me. Whenever our mentors took us out to something, he helped me and hardly showed off, unlike the other apprentices (even Hailpaw, who was quite kind). When my littermates and I were nearly eight moons old I watched Hailpaw become a warrior, Hailstorm. Everyone was cheering so loudly, especially his former teacher Birdsong. Cherrypaw, who was the same age as him, but failed her final assessment. I was jealous yet happy for Hailstorm, worried that I wouldn't get the same welcome he did. Cherrypaw was killed by rats in leaf-bare, when Applemink was out of burdock root and the ground was frozen, making her unable to dig up any more rat-bite treatment, so the tabby she-cat was unable to ever become a warrior, take a mate or have kits. I was distraught like the rest of the Clan (especially Cherrypaw's mentor, Ebonytree) but at the same time filled with cold relief that some other cat had suffered ''something ''so that I wouldn't be the only cat in RiverClan with a terrible life. Shellpaw mourned a long time for his lost denmate, and I guessed the pair had intended to be more than ''den''mates once they were warriors. The dappled young tom sat vigil for Cherrypaw all night long and assisted the elders, Mossmallow and Brackenears, in burying her body at dawn, and refused to talk to anyone for a few days after, sitting in the den alone. Lilacpaw and I tried to bring him fresh-kill. He ignored our offers until straight-out ordering us to stop. Our generosity did help the apprentice though, for he soon recovered and started training alongside Lilacpaw, Aspenpaw, Reedpaw, Mudpaw and I again - Shellpaw had missed some lessons due to his old state of depression, so I decided it was time for me to attempt to repay his kindness and helped him catch up on training again. He thanked me for it, but still hung out with Echopaw, who was about his age, but I was no longer bothered by this since I had discovered that the dappled gray tom and silver tabby she-cat were cousins. Soon enough, it was time for Echopaw, Mudpaw and Shellpaw's assesment. The day I dreaded. But I was pleasantly surprised by Shellpaw denying the test, so his concerned mentor Leafsplash, who was now father to Birdsong's old mentor Rushfoot's kit Fallowkit, just assisted Echopaw's new mentor Ebonytree and Mudpaw's mentor Silverfoot in assessing the apprentices, who later became Echomist and Mudfur. Hailstorm showed a lot of affection towards the new warrior after hers and the brown cat's ceremony. (Spikestar, Echomist's first mentor, had broken a leg two moons ago and was still in the medicine den. After his injury he appointed Ebonytree as Echopaw's replacement teacher because he thought it would take the black cat's mind off her dead student, Cherrypaw). Shellpaw was overjoyed at Echopaw, no, Echo''mist's achievement, showing no envy of her since he knew that he ''was the one that had stopped him from joining her. One day, my mentor and father Rowanteeth and Rubblewing and Reedpaw's mentor Willowtail took Shellpaw, my dark-pelted littermate, and I to a swimming lesson, since Reedpaw's hind legs were spindly and weak and her muscles needed to be built up in order for her to swim fast. The gray tom was bored so he joined us, and I was forced to come along of course. It was a stormy day, and the river roared along between the banks like the water of the gorge. Reedpaw and I were shaking from terror. I whimpered the question, "We're really going to swim in that?". Shellpaw was about to run forward and comfort me but Rubblewing gave him a fierce look and faced me. "Are you a RiverClan cat or not?" he hissed, advancing toward me. The hackles on his red-brown striped pelt stuck up, and his bared teeth glinted in the gray light. "Ye-yes," I replied, even more scared now. My father nodded slowly, fur smoothing. "Good, because sometimes I wonder." He gave a throaty growl then stalked away into the thin, water-splashed undergrowth, leaving even Willowtail in shock. Shellpaw padded up and nuzzled my cheek. "It's okay," he assured. "Don't listen to him." But my heart felt crushed and icy, pulling me away from the warmhearted young tom and forcing me to dive into the river alone, hardly feeling the cruel tug of the waves. I probably would've drowned myself if my sister's call hadn't snapped me out of my misery and made me jump out onto the bank and shake out my coat, leaving the dark, raging river behind. I don't really remember much more from my apprenticehood, though that day in the storm by the river will remain in my memory forever. By the way, I fought in three battles during it and would've visited the Moonstone if it wasn't for my greencough at the time my denmates went. Next up, after ages and ages of apprenticeship, I was finally given my assesment. The morning of it I was as nervous and frightened as I was back when I was a kit on the day I turned six moons. Of course, the rest of my denmates - Aspenpaw, Lilacpaw, Reedpaw and Shellpaw - weren't nervous at all. In fact, at dawn all my littermates got up and ate together, watching the sunrise, while I hid at the back of the apprentices' den with Shellpaw, who was just staying due to tiredness. At sunhigh, a furious Leafsplash and an even more angry Rowanteeth appeared at the den entrance and the tabby yelled at us to get up, it was assesment time soon. Heart racing, I half leant on my dappled friend as we groggily left our shelter for the last time, I realized with a fresh wave of fear striking me. When I exited the apprentices' den and emerged into the bright sunlight, I noticed the whole Clan's expecting gazes burning my pelt, but the four eyes that really set my coat on fire were the ones belonging to my parents, Quincetail and Rubblewing. I hadn't seen my mother in a while - the ginger tabby warrior never paid much attention to me, or any of my siblings except Lilacpaw. I crouched down on the muddy ground, attempting to hide in plain sight, but something warm and furry hit my nose and I looked up to see Quincetail standing over me. The object that had bonked me in the face was a water vole. "Eat up!" she hissed. "Don't make a fool of me and fail your assesment just because you didn't eat enough!" Now, my own mother supplying me with fresh-kill would've been kind in a normal situation, but she knew my nerves were frazzled right now and decided to challenge me - if I refused to eat despite my nerves, I would embarrass myself in front of the whole Clan, possibly Emberstar herself. (the gray-and-white deputy had replaced Spikestar as leader after the tortoiseshell-and-white tom had been captured by a Twoleg and killed by a long, pointy, silver Cutter thing in a Twoleg nest a week ago). Emberstar had given birth to Bramblekit, Lilykit, Cedarkit and Brightkit recently, and nursed them for the four days before Spikestar's death, when the queen Gingerbush still had milk after her kits, Owlkit, Pikekit and Ripplekit, had become apprentices - Owlpaw, Pikepaw and Ripplepaw, and fed the new leader's litter. The tortoiseshell's real kit Dovekit had died a mysterious death, found limp and bloody in the reed bed one night when the Gathering patrol returned to camp. Her brothers' mentors were Troutclaw (Pikepaw)'s, old Silverfoot (Ripplepaw's) and Toadwater (Owlpaw's). They were hunting together with their teachers until after I grudgingly finished eating Quincetail's vole. I recall Owlpaw's bicolour pelt spiking in excitement as Rushfoot's five-moon-old daughter, Fallowkit, raced out of the nursery and jumped on Owlpaw's back. The kitten's father, Leafsplash, was grooming in the shade of his den. I looked up again, but Quincetail was gone. Instead Shellpaw and Aspenpaw were having a play-fight in the wet clearing. "Apprentices!" A harsh mew made me jump, and I got to my paws, licking my lips to see Rowanteeth, Willowtail, Tanglewhisker and Ripplepelt standing in a line next to the fresh-kill pile, Leafsplash missing. Pikepaw, Owlpaw and Ripplepaw looked up too but the tabby-and-white coat of Silverfoot flashed at the edge of my vision as the warrior pulled the three younger pupils back by teeth and tail. "Not you," he muttered, dropping the scruff of Owlpaw. "Your turns will come," he soothed after his own apprentice, Ripplepaw's face twisted in misery and his son Pikepaw's broad shoulders drooped. For once feeling I had a little better luck than someone else, I ran up to where Lilacpaw and Reedpaw were sitting facing our mentors, settling between the toms as they joined us. "Today is your assesments," Rowanteeth announced. My heart ached with nervousness again. "But since there are so many of you - five! - we're going to split you younglings up," he went on. "Aspenpaw and Reedpaw will go first. They will be assessed by their mentors, Tanglewhisker and Willowtail, along with Silverfoot - he is one of our senior warriors, and therefore is very experienced at judging apprentices. Next up will be Shellpaw and Rainpaw; they have worked together a lot before. They will be assessed by me, since Shellpaw's teacher Leafsplash wants to stay in camp with his kit, and I can't argue with that. Lilacpaw will be lucky last. Lilacpaw, you have shown exceptional patience, skill, learning ability and endurance all these nine and a half moons, so I trust that with all of us assessing you, you will need no partnership to do excellently. That dismisses our meeting - Tanglewhisker, Silverfoot, Willowtail, start the assessing now. Reedpaw, Aspenpaw, off you go. Good luck!" At the end of the day we all passed. I mostly got in the way of Shellpaw but he quickly forgave me at every fault, which I was very thankful for. That night we all became warriors: Reedbubble, Aspenstorm, Shellheart, Lilacfur and of course I, Rainflower. Quincetail watched the ceremony through slitted eyes, but luckily her mate was tired out from the assessments and had gone to the den before the ceremony. At the end of it my mother came over to congratulate my siblings in the same way she did all those moons ago, when we were kits getting prepared for apprenticeship: Lilacfur first, then Aspenstorm, then Reedbubble. She acknowledged Shellheart and I with a small dip of her broad, silky head and padded away. As the dappled gray tom nudged me toward the center of the muddy camp, a tiny spark of hope that my parents actually liked me lit my heart. I snuggled down next to Shellheart, while my brother and sisters sat near the entrance. For the first time in about a season, a warm purr sounded in my throat. "Sorry, silence's the rule," Shellheart whispered with amusement. "But we can purr all we want in the morning." I nodded, quieting down, and looked up at the star-studded, ebony-black night sky. Are you there, Appletiger? I wondered - Appletiger was my blue-gray tabby aunt, who was killed by the zap of a river eel when I was a kit. Appletiger was a brave warrior, a skilled hunter, and one of the only family members that paid attenton to me. At dawn I recall feeling very tired and stiff, my stormy-coloured fur fluffed out as much as possible despite the warmth of Shellheart next to me. I sniffed the air - it smelled frosty and crisp, which was new to me, since I had slept in so much as an apprentice. I think my neck still hurts from when I craned it to see over the top of the reed barrier from my sitting position, but beyond the watery stalks I glimpsed an extremely, almost blindingly bright glow than shone on the horizon and had just begun to light up the forest. Interpreting it as an omen from StarClan, I wondered if it was a good or bad sign. It was bad, but it didn't show until much later. A few minutes afterward, I heard a muffled scratching sound behind me, and I turned to see my former mentor, Rowanteeth, slip out of the warriors' den. (Expected a fox, didn't you? Don't give me that face, I know you did!). The faded stripes on his brown pelt seemed broken up from his sleep-ruffled coat. I remember struggling to stifle a ''mrrow ''of amusement at the warrior's funny appearance. "Greetings," he meowed. I nodded - one of the rules of the warrior vigil was not to talk during it. "It's fine; you can speak now." A warmer, softer feminine voice sounded, and I turned my head to see my Clan leader, Emberstar, standing at the entrance to her den, fur already sleek from a quick morning groom. She pointed her flecked gray-and-white tail to the horizon, where all of the sun was visible above the hills. Dawn had fully broken, which meant the new warriors could now get up, eat, sleep and talk as usual. I prodded Shellheart, whose sea-blue eyes flickered open. "Were you sleeping?" I asked suspiciously, with a hint of joking in my voice. "N-no! I swear!" Shellheart meowed, rising to his paws. He shook out his coat and gave a sneeze as a cold wind blew over the exposed camp, bringing with it the first icy scents of leaf-bare. I padded over to Lilacpaw - no, Lilac''fur - and gave her a nudge with my paw, whispering "Wake up." My sister looked up - her eyes had been open, just buried in too much shadow to see properly. Jumping to her paws, she first shook out her coat, then licked it down to its normal smoothness. Noticing her, our two other littermates - Reedbubble and Aspenstorm - got up and did the same, then the three warriors turned and walked into the rush-walled entrance tunnel. I said something like "Wait up!" or "Eat!" or "Aren't you hungry?!" - I can't exactly remember - and at that Lilacfur whipped her head around and, giving the meanest look, snarled "We're real warriors, not lazy kits like you and Shell-what's-his-face! We're going to hunt!", then ran into the damp undergrowth with her brother and sister. More Coming Soon... Category:Fanfiction